


and as the years come and go

by MyDestinyIsWritten



Series: Maiko Week 2020 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29481366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyDestinyIsWritten/pseuds/MyDestinyIsWritten
Summary: Mai remembered the first time she ever saw Zuko, when she was about 7.  Him and his mother were up onto a balcony above the garden, giggling as they laughed and talked over the sound of the fountain.or, Mai's thoughts on Zuko throughout the years
Relationships: Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Maiko Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213646
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	and as the years come and go

Mai and Zuko grew up together, more or less.

Of course, first she was Azula’s and Ty Lee’s friend but Zuko wormed his way onto that list pretty quick. It had been hard at first to become mutuals since Azula’s sole mission was to push them together and not in a way they liked.

It eventually happened though, once they learned to ignore Azula’s taunts, and they became good friends. 

Mai remembered the first time she ever saw Zuko, when she was about 7. Him and his mother were up onto a balcony above the garden, giggling as they laughed and talked over the sound of the fountain.

The balcony was positioned directly above her so that she could perfectly spy on them without them ever catching sight of her.

She was supposed to be getting the flowers to put in Ty Lee’s hair but she didn’t want to. They all had only just met a week ago and Azula was bossy, Mai hated that. 

Instead of collecting the plants, she pursed her lips and peered out from behind the column so that she could watch the two, Zuko, giggling, as his mother wrapped her arms around him and tickled his sides so that he was crumpling to the ground with laughter.

Her parents played with her - when they were free, which wasn’t a lot - but they’d play dice with her for at least 30 minutes every few weeks. Still, she had never laughed so hard she was rolling on the floor and smiling so hard her cheeks hurt, and if she did it’d be improper and unlady-like, so why were they doing it?

She blinked, pressing closer to the cool pillar as the pair walked away out of her eye-line.

“Maiii! Are you cominngg?!!” the voice clipped itself to the back of her head, reminding her where she should be.

She hummed to herself as if Ty Lee could hear her from this far away and before she could skitter away she gasped as the Fire Lady cast a quick glance her way.

-

She had seen Zuko multiple times now either through windows or across the hall from Azula’s room, even sometimes playing in the garden not too far from them.

She wasn’t trying to act creepy or be obsessive but he seemed so care-free?

It was like he wasn’t trying to force a smile, it just came naturally and lit up his whole face. It wasn’t even like Ty Lee’s smile where she was so giggly and bouncy it got exhausting after a while, it was just t _ here _ .

She really liked that.

-

Almost half a year had passed, Zuko would occasionally join in their games until their parents came out from their meetings and they could go home with the servants.

Then it was her birthday and Zuko shyly walked over to her, hands cupped together.

“Hi, umm.. Zula said to bring you a present cause of your birthday” he held out his hands in front of him hiding what was inside.

Mai nodded and furrowed her eyebrows, she pulled her hands back when they drifted forward as if to try and pry his hands apart.

“You gotta look fast cause it might fly away” he spoke

Mai barely had a second to think about what that meant before he uncupped his hands and sitting in his palm was a….butterfly.

A blue one and it didn’t fly away, it stayed in place walking over Zuko’s hand and he had to tilt it so it wouldn’t fall off.

“It's nice” she whispered

“You can touch it if you want, but don’t hurt it” he admonished

She tentatively reached a finger and brushed its wing, then it climbed on her and her hand dropped out of surprise before he caught her wrist and placed his other hand under hers to steady it. 

“It's not going to hurt you” he laughed

Mai huffed, “I know that”

It flew away after a couple of minutes though and Zuko skipped away, she stared after him before drawing back and walking away through the roses.

Apparently, she was older than him by 2 weeks, because cut to that time, her parents had to go to a ceremony for him. She didn’t get that because her parents weren’t Zuko’s friends and she thought it would have been fun to go, still she stayed quiet as her mom put on her special shoes and walked through the door on her dad’s arm.

Later though when it was really dark, she had to go to the palace to greet the prince before she could go to bed and she frowned as she remembered the butterfly Zuko had shown her.

She ran upstairs to her room and picked out a sleek baby blue pebble she’d found a couple weeks prior, it was shaped in a nearly perfect disk and it could fit just inside her palm so she tucked it away and ran outside to the carriage. 

Zuko kept it on his nightstand.

-

When she was 10, she didn’t like flowers. 

So when Zuko came up to her one day with a big pink flower she had ‘accidentally’ dropped it while walking inside. She vaguely saw his face droop but she couldn’t acknowledge that now, her parents needed her and she had no time to delay.

-

She was 11 when she had to hold a crying Zuko under the same bush of roses she despised, when his mom left.

-

She was 12 when her cheeks decided to start heating up every time his fingers brushed past her or he laughed at one of her comments, and despite her distaste of the red blush in her ears she couldn’t help the feeling of giddiness arising.

-

She was almost 14 when she shared a small kiss with Zuko as she was waiting for her parents in the conference room after one of their long meetings.

Not even a week later, Zuko was banished, her parents had forbidden her from going to his disciplinary act to make up for his disrespect.

She didn’t know that when Zuko gave her a chaste kiss as left the meeting room was the last time she’d see him for years to come.

-

She was 14 when she realized how much Zuko meant to her as a best friend (or something else?).

She was 14 when he had to leave, set on a quest that hadn’t been accomplished for a hundred years.

She was 14 when she completely closed her walls, holding straight faces while the other girls were laughing and crying, arms thrown over each other.

She was 14 when she got her heart broken without her even realizing it.

She was 14 years old when she realized she was in love with the prince of the Fire Nation.

**Author's Note:**

> this is another one of my fics i did for Maiko Week that i had to re-upload so yeah, i think this prompt was childhood


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